Taken Away
by KasperJatie
Summary: Hermione's parents react as parents would following the incident at the Department of Mysteries.
1. Prologue

**Taken Away**

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_A/N Dedicated to everyone who's had to say goodbye to a friend._

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Prologue 

"No! You can't!" Hermione Granger gaped at her parents, ice cold panic settling into her stomach as they both looked calmly back at her.

"We can. We have to Hermione, don't you see?" her father said pleadingly.

Hermione jumped up from her chair and paced in front of the lounge room fireplace. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest and the blood was rushing in her ears.

Her parents wanted to take her out of Hogwarts. __

_This can't be happening._ Hermione thought frantically. _This is a nightmare, and I'm going to wake up and everything will be fine. My parents are not irrational, my parents are not irrational, my parents- _

"-You were _cursed _Hermione," Mrs. Granger said forcefully. "How can you expect us to allow you to go back there?"

_My parents are irrational. They mean it. _Hermione felt her legs start to wobble and the bile rise in her throat. The thought of leaving Hogwarts was unimaginable. Leaving Harry when he needed her most, leaving Ron when he needed her, too.

She couldn't do it. She _wouldn't _do it. Hermione turned back to her parents and, raising her chin in defiance, took a deep breath.

"No."

"Honey," her father said on a chuckle, "what do you mean, 'no'?"

"I mean just what I said. I _am_ going back to Hogwarts." As her parents looked at Hermione with equally shocked expressions, her resolve began to crumble. She had never defied them before; there had never been a need.

"Mum, dad, please," she begged. "You have to let me go back, you don't understand!"

"We understand all we need to, Hermione. You could have _died_. The only reason you're standing here now is because the Death Eater fellow couldn't speak. And still, he did some serious damage. We've discussed it, and decided you're not going back."

"Discussed it, have you?" Hermione said disgustedly. "Discussed it between yourselves and didn't think to give me a say in my own life. My own _future._ I would have to start from scratch at a Muggle school, and I tell you, I'm not. Doing. It."

Hermione dashed up the stairs, ignoring her parents' angry and hurt expressions, and into her bedroom. She was breathing heavily with anger and panic. Finally, exhausted, she heaved herself onto her bed and allowed the tears to come.

She knew she couldn't really stop them, but she could fight for all she was worth before the final decision was made. It was only a week into the summer--there was plenty of time--but not today. Today, Hogwarts' cleverest witch allowed herself to grieve for all she had lost in the last year, and for all that could so easily be taken from her.

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**_A/N _**Thank you to Sarah, for the support and encouragement and the pre-beta job :o) and to my Beta, Tari for once again doing a superb job!


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

Ron Weasley sighed as he lay on his lumpy bed at number twelve, Grimmauld Place. This summer should have been brilliant. Harry and Hermione should have been there, and Harry should have finally been able to spend some real time with Sirius.

Instead, Ron was alone. Harry had gone back to those stupid Muggles, and Hermione wasn't allowed to come to Grimmauld Place. And Sirius… none of them would ever see Sirius again.

Ron swallowed against the burning in his throat and his gaze avoided the scars on his arms. To get his mind off the end of his fifth year at Hogwarts, he wondered how Hermione was and if she'd gotten his cheer-up package yet. He had no idea what had possessed him to send it, maybe Ginny's nagging had been a major contributor, but he was anxious to see what she thought.

Belatedly, he had sent Harry one too, though that had been much trickier, as he hadn't wanted to put anything from Grimmauld Place in there. He wasn't expecting an answer from his best mate, knowing only from Remus that Harry was still at the Dursley's, and claiming that he was "fine."

Ron was just starting to wish he had a Quaffle to mess around with when his sister sped into his room, a look of sheer panic on her face. Ron was on his feet in a shot. If he hadn't have known better, he would have sworn that he'd Apparated to stand in front his sister.

"Ginny?" He tried to keep the panic from his voice, knowing that he'd failed miserably.

"H-have you gotten a letter from Hermione lately?"

Before Ron could answer her question, Pig flew through the open window and for the first time since the owl had become Ron's, he didn't fly around the room like a crazed maniac. Instead, he flew straight to Ron, holding out his leg in mid air so that Ron could remove the letter that was attached to it.

"Ginny, what is this?" Ron felt like his heart was in his throat as he started to unroll the parchment, looking at his sister and hoping that nothing had happened to the Grangers. Had he been thinking clearly, he knew that had something happened, Hermione would be there at Order headquarters with them.

"Just read the letter Ron," Ginny said sympathetically. "I'll come back in twenty minutes or so."

Without another word, the youngest Weasley left her brother to read the letter that would change his life.

_Dear Ron,_

_Oh Merlin. There's no easy way to say this, and I hate saying it in a letter but you need to know and there's no one I can talk to like I know I can talk to you._

Ron took a big gulping breath. With an opening like that, it was no wonder he didn't want to read on. Concern for his friend--and something else he didn't want to name--urged him to.

_My parents, who I'm currently not talking to, want to remove me from Hogwarts and place me in Muggle schooling. They seem to be under the impression that I could have actually died in the Department of Mysteries. Honestly, they are _completely _overreacting._

Ron sank down onto his bed, hardly believing what he'd just read. Hermione Granger, not attend Hogwarts? It was the most outrageous thing he'd ever heard, and had he not sensed the gravity of the situation, he would have laughed.

_Me. Not at Hogwarts. That would be like telling Dobby he had to go back to the Malfoys. Or you that you couldn't go for the Chudley Cannons anymore. Or Harry that he had to stay at the Dursley's for the rest of his life. Maybe it's like all of those things bundled together, but they only told me two days ago and I haven't let myself think about it yet. Not really._

_So I'm turning to you. You have to help me Ron, please? I know we haven't always been on the best of terms but you're the only hope I've got. Despite all the fights and… well, the tension there sometimes is between us, no one knows me like you do and I know that you'll do everything you can to stop my parents making this final decision._

_Please write back and tell me everything's going to be ok. You're the only person I'll believe._

_Love always,_

_Hermione._

Ron re-read the letter at least three times before dropping it and racing downstairs to Ginny's room. He burst in without knocking, and was shocked to find his sister crying on her bed. He'd never seen her cry like this before, not even after the Chamber of Secrets. She wasn't making a sound, but her whole body was rocking slightly

He'd never felt more scared.

"Ginny?" He had to swallow the lump in his throat as he made his way to her bed. "Ginny, you know about Hermione?"

Instead of answering him, Ginny threw her arms around his neck and sniffled in his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Ron. I know this must be hard for you." She lifted her head off Ron's shoulder and smiled at him grimly through her tears.

Ron took a deep breath and nodded, not knowing what he was supposed to do next. He had hoped he would find comfort in Ginny and it was a surprise to find himself in the position of comforter.

"I think we should tell Mum," Ginny said after a while.

"She's so busy Ginny, and stressed enough as it is."

"Yes, but she loves Hermione, Ron. She might be able to tell the Grangers, help them understand. She could talk about how she nearly lost two of her children that night. If anyone could convince them that Hogwarts is the safest place in the world, it's Mum."

Ron nodded again and felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. Ginny was right. They had to tell Mrs. Weasley.

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_**A/N **Thanks, as always, to Sarah and Tari... you girls rock! _

_**A/N2** To anyone who reviews this, thank you very, very, very much :oD_


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Hermione was sitting idly on her bedroom floor, sifting through the package that Ron had sent. The package had been such a surprise, and it had warmed her heart that he had thought of her before he had even known about what had happened with her parents.

In the package were books from the library at Order Headquarters that Hermione was quite wary of looking at, a photo of Ron and Ginny, smiling up at her with Tonks tripping over her own feet in the background, and one of Buckbeak's feathers.

Her favourite though, was a fancy looking quill that Hermione was sure had been taken from Mrs. Black's desk. She remembered admiring it and asking Mrs. Weasley to test it for Dark Magic during that awful summer the year before. As it turned out, the quill was harmless. Now, it was Hermione's.

She had just been placing the quill back into the box when a small ball of feathers flew through her open window.

"Pig!" she cried exasperatedly, trying to pull the small owl from her hair. "Pig, give me that letter!"

As if he understood what she had said, Pigwidgeon fluttered down to perch himself on Hermione's knee, holding out his leg so she could remove the parchment attached to it. Almost absentmindedly, she took some left-over toast from the plate next to her and fed the owl as she unrolled Ron's letter with her other hand.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Your letter wasn't at all what I was expecting! I don't want to lie to you. I can't tell you it will be all right, Hermione, because I really don't know what's going on with your parents. I'm sorry, I wish I could say more to help you._

Hermione felt her heart drop to her stomach as she read her friend's opening paragraph. She sniffed back tears. If Ron couldn't help her--if _he _couldn't give her hope--then all was lost.

_I can tell you some good news though. Ginny and me-_

"-Ginny and I," Hermione murmured, before she ruefully shook her head.

_-decided it would be good to get Mum involved, and she's "absolutely outraged" at the idea of "her Hermione" not coming to Burrow in the summer and getting on the Hogwarts Express with the rest of us on the first. _

_We're all going to do our very best to convince them to let you stay. Mum's written them a letter--with a pen and everythin_g_!--and is going to send it with the Muggle post. Hopefully, they'll agree to meet up with her at the Burrow. You can come and we can hang around outside and wait for Mum to work her magic. _

_No, I didn't mean that literally, Miss Granger. Get a grip._

Hermione allowed herself a chuckle, her first real one for a week, at the image of Ron writing that line with a mischievous glint in his eye.

_Mum's not too keen on us leaving Headquarters, but we insisted and in the end it was two against one. She really can't say no to any of her kids when Ginny uses her charm._

_Have you told Harry about this? He'd want to know, and besides, it might take his mind off everything else that has happened. You never know, this might work out well in a way. It could scare him into appreciating us again._

_Summer here is dead boring. I'm going completely mental at Headquarters, Hermione, and I hope I'll be able to see you soon._

_Hogwarts without Hermione Granger is like Harry Potter without his scar._

_We'll work something out Hermione, I promise._

_Yours,_

_Ron._

Hermione let herself fall back onto the floor, holding Ron's letter to her chest and allowing herself a small smile. He'd involved his mother, which meant that he cared. About her, and not about Harry's other best friend.

They had become closer over their fifth year, united in the single mission of not letting Harry wallow and treat them badly. Their conversations, though, seemed fairly limited to Harry, Quidditch and homework. Hermione found herself craving more.

It was a notion that had scared her initially, frightened her down to her toes. She liked Ron. They had spent a lot of the summer together at Grimmauld Place, and had started seeing each other as individuals. At least, Hermione had thought they had. Then, in their fifth year, she could not remember having a single fight with him. Not a real one.

Not like the one they'd had after the Yule Ball. Or the ones they had through most of their third year, for that matter.

Hermione giggled. She should have been mortified at what she had said to Ron that night, and she was sure she had been at the time. That whole argument, though, seemed to have changed their friendship entirely.

It was something she cherished now, especially with Harry being so sullen and defensive. Not that Hermione could blame him. He'd walked through hell at the end of the Triwizard Tournament, and again just weeks ago, but he'd survived. They all had.

Hermione was sure that all of them, all three of them, would continue surviving until the War ended–whenever that would be–and then, finally, they'd be allowed to live again.

Shaking herself from the mood that could easily have set itself inside her heart, Hermione read Ron's letter again. And again, until she found herself smiling like an idiot.

Frowning at the idea of being so girlie as to grin over a letter--one that had held not-so-good-news, no less--Hermione uncrossed her legs and turned to her bookshelf. She would study, something she hadn't been able to do in the week since her parents had told her about their decision.

Hermione looked again at the parchment, still clutched firmly in her hand. First she would write to Ron, and try not to spill out everything she was feeling for him at that moment. Then she would write to Harry, because he would want to know what was happening with his friends, as much as she hated to admit that Ron was right.

Only then would she study, because if Ron had anything to do with it, she _would_ be going back to Hogwarts for their sixth year, whether her parents liked it or not, and she couldn't afford to fall behind. The thought alone terrified her.

**_A/N _**_Thank you to Sarah (Cera) for making Hermione correct Ron's grammar and all the things you do every chapter, and to my PS beta Tari for my commas and dashes and all the things _you _do every chapter ;o)_

**_A/N_**_ Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this so far. All your comments are greatly appreciated and make me smile!_


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